Jackson Lebedun – DJ of the Month, December 2017

What is your show called and what does it entail?
The Infinite Universe. It’s an eclectic show that explores a wide variety of underground genres that have been emerging such as swamp, glitch hop, weird bass, etc. Each week is a different genre or a different mood, depending on what’s been resonating with me the past week and I organize the songs in a way where there is a continuous flow, as if I was telling a story. During the breaks I often talk about the artists or promote upcoming shows in the area. Some weeks I may talk about a recent show I went to. For example, I talked about my first experience at 515 Alive Music Festival over the summer and played some favorites from the festival on-air.

Why did you become a DJ?
I’ve always been told I had a voice for radio when I was in high school and when I came to Iowa State my Freshman year, I went to see if there was any radio stations around that were hiring cause how cool would it be to work at a radio station? I met up with some people at Friley Hall and saw the sign for KURE and I got really excited. I signed up that spring semester originally as DJ Dougie. I would play some generic indie pop music but I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I left ISU for about a year because I was going through a quarter-life crisis trying to figure myself out and balancing that with living on my own and going to class. I went home and over the course of that year I was introduced to some experimental bass music and something kinda clicked. I found inspiration in what I wanted to do with life. When I came back to ISU, I decided to pick up doing radio again and create a show that served a platform for these artists that have inspired me with life in general.

What is your favorite album and/or artist of all time?
There’s so much music out there that I love, it’s hard to pick a favorite. If I had to choose though, I would probably say Yheti. It’s insane how he can create something absolutely bizarre yet so beautiful and unique. I can’t think of any other artist that can match his sound, he truly is one of a kind.